Just seen the ref is Phil Dowd...he does not like us one little bit and is quite keen to dish out yellows and reds...perhaps we should not play Catts Oh no, we had him only 2 1/2 weeks ago for Palace. He was shocking. They started time wasting from the 2nd minute and he did rock all about it. Only added 2 mins first half and 4 second half. Not bothered about the second half as we were glad he blew for full time before we conceded any more. Palace beat us fair and square, no argument, but it doesn't help when the ref doesn't apply the rules properly. And don't get me going on the penalty he should have given us. He gave a free kick centre field for exactly the same offence 3 minutes later. Looks like we both hate his guts so who will he favour Sunday?
My choice: .....................Marshall........................ KTC........Medel..........Cala........John... ........................Eikrem..................... Fabio........Mutch......Daehli ......Bellers ........................Cambell.................... Reality? : .....................Marshall........................ KTC............Caulker......Cala........Fabio.. ........................Medel..................... Kim........Mutch.............whittingham......Daehli ........................Cambell.................... Caulker has been a nobody in defence...he OCCASIONALLY pulls off a block or something but the amount of times he loses his mark, gets wrong footed, flicks on a header (madness for a defender??) it is impossible to let it go unnoticed - atleast by me!!!....hes as bad as turner and has no fight/voice for the captains armband...give it to Marshall or Bellamy ffs Medel plays in that centre back position very effectively for his country. Medel is our best tackler. Medel is normally too far forward (albeit by like 5-10 yards) to save our blushes with the likes of caulker fcks something up royally...there for put him in the thick of things where he is most needed as for whittingham he played infinitely better vs stoke than he has for 3 seasons for me (yes he was this bad last season only people get blinded by his goal tally). if I felt he would put another shift in like stoke id be a lot more happier seeing him in the side but hes so god awful lazy it sickens me
Sorry but to put Medel in at CB for this game would be madness - this is no game to try a new CB pair. Anyway recent 'goals conceded' suggest current back four doing OK.
good point, I suppose it is the wrong time in the season to shift things around further as ole has discovered the hard way. Hopefully caulker does get "picked up" next season so we wont have the same problem. As far as goals conceded improvement go. Things have gotten better since we brought cala back in but why he was ever dropped to begin with is beyond me.
Not sure that the CB partnership is/was the problem. Defending is a team issue, if anyone watched the CL semi last night you saw world class wingers and midfielders giving everything to get back, tackle and create numbers in defence. That work rate as a team was noticeably absent from our play under Ole to start. It's why we've been more competitive away from the CCS as we expect to have to work hard and defend in numbers away from home. Ole has also not been so reckless in his away selections. The 3 remaining fixtures should all be approached with a 'keep it tight' attitude then hope our set piece delivery or 1 of our few game changers can make the difference.
Strangely enough, this is why I think three at the back for these two away games might be a decent option. I'm sorry, but I can't get my head around Fabio as a full back, and KTC has had some bad lapses on the same side of the park. Declan has had a few shakey moments, but at least he offers some pace over Taylor on the left. The only other FB in contention has to be McNuggs. Solid enough and a seasoned campaigner, but we need to get something out of these games, not just contain the opposition. IF, and it's a very big if, Ole plays the Caulker/Cala/Turner combo, I'd be happy to see Fabio and Declan either side of them with a view to getting forward when possible. They both have pace and could trouble defences by running at them a bit like Nooney did. Medel could hopefully pick off the runner on either side to support the two of them. Got to have someone to get on the end of anything we create though, and that's where I see our problem.
In theory the back three formation is OK, but to me the players aren't comfortable with it....it was tried and apart from one game simply didn't work. For me we,ve got to stick with: KTC............Caulker......Cala........Fabio who have looked pretty solid recently
Jay....do you ever disagree wth anyone?...... Wiffle....Fabio hasn't been playing as a true fullback recently though.
Agreed....but we've got the players with the neccessary stamina & desire to cover when Fabio goes on his sorte's forward (Medel/Mutch/Daehli in particular)
im so ****ting it now that they just signed two quality players from the barca of wales.......pity they didn't have them all season init they may have made the difference between staying up or going down....
